Roswell SeniorNet Named “Volunteer of the Year” by Georgia Parks and Recreation Association

Don Hogan accepting the Georgia Parks and Recreation Association “Volunteer of the Year” award on behalf of the Roswell Learning Center.

Roswell, GA, October 15, 2007 – Volunteers at the Roswell SeniorNet Learning Center are winners of the “Volunteer of the Year” award given by the Georgia Recreation and Parks Association Senior Adult Section. The award, to be presented November 7 at the GRPA Annual Conference on Jekyll Island, is statewide and is granted for Roswell SeniorNet’s work in teaching computer skills to adults age 50 and over.

The Roswell SeniorNet Learning Center is associated with the international SeniorNet organization and works in partnership with the Roswell Recreation, Parks, Historic and Cultural Affairs Department through the Roswell Adult Recreation Center.

Instructors and coaches, all volunteers, teach computer skills to approximately four hundred seniors each year. Classes are offered four times annually and range from basics like Computer Fundamentals, Computers for the Terrified, and Exploring Windows to more advanced courses such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Adobe Photoshop, Buying and Selling on eBay, and Internet and Email. Some course materials are furnished by the parent SeniorNet organization, while others are developed by the Roswell volunteers. Volunteers maintain a website that offers information to the general public and provides a forum for discussion among volunteers and students.

Learning Center volunteers maintain and upgrade the fifteen computers in the classroom, installing new software, replacing equipment as needed, and adding senior-friendly products such as large flat-screen monitors and keyboards with extra-large symbols on the keys. As a service to the community, Roswell SeniorNet volunteers also help maintain an alcove with computers that are used by more than three thousand seniors yearly to check email, surf the Internet, and compose documents and spreadsheets. These activities are financed by grants given in response to proposals written by a team of Roswell SeniorNet volunteers